Fog returns in Chandigarh, mercury below normal

After a day of bright sunshine, Chandigarh and its surrounding areas were again surrounded by thick fog on Wednesday morning that disrupted road traffic.

Freezing cold and harsh weather conditions continued to make things difficult for residents with a minimum temperature of 3.7 degrees Celsius. The mercury remained below normal in almost all parts of Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday.

Punjab's Amritsar town was the coldest in the region on Wednesday. It recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6 degrees Celsius that was three notches below normal. It was followed by Ludhiana city, which shivered at 1.9 degrees, again three degrees below average.

Patiala city recorded a low of 3.3 degrees on Wednesday.

"A dense cover of fog had enveloped most parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh this morning. Visibility was reduced to zero at various places, disrupting road traffic," said a Met official on Wednesday.

"Mercury also remained below normal at all places in this region. Similar conditions will prevail for the next one or two days," he added.

Dense fog in the region is also expected to disrupt air traffic Wednesday. The Chandigarh airport was opened on Tuesday, after a closure of six days from January 5-10 due to dense fog, and a couple of flights resumed operations.

"Right now we cannot comment anything about the cancellation of flights. We are waiting for weather to become clear," said an official of Chandigarh airport on Wednesday.

In Haryana, Hisar town was the coldest at a low of 2.8 degrees Celsius. Ambala, Karnal and Narnaul settled at minimum temperatures of 4.4, 3 and 3 degrees respectively.